I just discovered the Buddhist writer (and teacher) Anne Cushman and I am in love. I devoured her novel called Enlightenment for Idiots and immediately started her memoir: 

Mama Sutra: A Story of Love, Loss, and the Path of Motherhood

It is . . . well honestly, it is tearing my heart open. I have read a million dharma books, but there are so few about what it's like to actually try to live on a spiritual path. And to try to live it as a woman, and a mother, when the Buddha himself skipped out on his family in the dark of night to go try to get enlightened . . . let's talk about that.

The book is making me completely rethink the idea of attachment and explore how maybe the great (male) spiritual leaders have gotten it all wrong.

I was sitting here in Miami, trying so hard to get work done, and there were these huge flashes of light out the window. 

So I go look, and what I see was something I have never seen before: this ONE CLOUD (the rest of the sky was totally clear!) just sitting in one spot, having its own personal disco party. It stayed there for a long time, at least two hours.

I got some decent pics with my phone and I made this gif from a few of those pics. This has nothing to do with aging, but I had to share. I suppose it's stuff like this that makes life worth living! ☺️

(a few more pics I took that night are on my Insta) – and if you can't see the gif in your email, check it out here.)

The Whole 60 Diet

Novelist Laura Lippman's 8-step plan that requires you "eat whatever you want and declare yourself beautiful." A great read.

Changing Channels

Women become pretty invisible after age 50. Some of them respond by going for big dreams they left behind. Here are 8 insanely inspirational examples. Like I'm tearing up even looking at the pics. Bless these women.

Stick with me on this one: each year on my birthday, I spend some time meditating on the inevitability of my own death. It's based on a traditional maranasati, or death-awareness, practice. 

But this year, my mind kept skipping past the more morbid bits and going directly to my own gratitude for my aliveness. Which, honestly, was pretty cool. Here's a very short breathing practice you can do to get in touch with your own aliveness: 

• sit quietly and close your eyes
• as you inhale deeply, think "today I am alive"
• as you exhale, think "one day I will not be"
• repeat several times, really feeling the words

(This is also really good to do at the beginning or ending of your meditation practice.)

Speaking of, I have a little free gift I want to give you: a printable meditation door hanger. 

It's based on my own little post-it note I've used on my door for years to let my family know I'm meditating. It says "MEDITATING on the inevitability of my own death" and if you have a morbid sense of humor like me you might like it.

Download the free printable door hanger here (and share pics if you feel like it!)

(And–if you are not quite so morbid, there are four more free door hanger designs headed your way in the coming weeks.)